Papernas meets despite right wing attack

In Solidarity 3/105, 25 January 2007 we reported on the Papernas party in Indonesia, which held its first conference on 18-20 January. The party includes the People’s Democratic Party (PRD), the main socialist opposition party in Indonesia, which includes Dita Sari and other militants.

Papernas, which stands for National Liberation Party of Unity, did hold its first conference

According to reports in Green Left Weekly,
About 100 black-uniformed thugs from Front Anti Komunis Indonesia (FAKI) turned up to the conference site on the eve of the congress and demanded that it be dispersed. The following day 300 thugs tried to stop the conference, but with support from 200 students the party managed to continue proceedings.

However one Papernas member, Andi Nurjaya, had to be hospitalised after the stress caused her to miscarry. In the North Sumatran town of Medan, the local Papernas chairperson was jailed after protesting the attacks on the congress.

The congress elected Agus Jabo as chairperson, Haris Sitorus as general secretary, and prominent trade union leader Dita Sari as its candidate for the 2009 presidential elections.

Asked about how the PRD will relate to Papernas, Jabo stated that it would “dissolve” into Papernas. But Jabo added: “Perhaps the better word is the one we use among ourselves — konsentrasi — we will be concentrating most of our cadre into activities organised through Papernas. We will be educating within Papernas so that it can develop the same level of programmatic commitment as the PRD. Meanwhile, the PRD structures will remain intact and will be used to assess how Papernas develops.”